Kandahar: Afghan forces fought on Monday to stop the first big city of falling to the Taliban as the United States and England accused the rebels “slaughter civilians” in a city they recently arrested near the Pakistani border.
Taliban fighters attacked at least three provincial capitals overnight – Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat – after a heavy fighting weekend who saw thousands of civilians fled from advanced militants.
Battle went berserk in the provincial capital Helmand Lashkar Gah, where the Taliban launched a coordinated attack in the city center and prison – only hours after the government announced the spread of hundreds of command into the area.
The war has increased since early May, with rebels utilizing the final stage of the withdrawal of US-led foreign troops after almost 20 years.
President Ashraf Ghani blamed Washington for deteriorating security.
“The reason for our current situation is that the decision suddenly,” Ghani told Parliament, referring to the withdrawal of foreign troops.
Ghani said he had warned Washington that withdrawals would have “consequences”.
His comment came when Washington said that, given the increasing violence, it would take thousands of Afghan refugees including those who worked with the United States.
Washington has begun to evacuate thousands of interpreters and their families working with the US military and the Embassy for the past two decades.
The United States and England on Monday accused the Taliban AtroCities who may amount to a “war crime” in the city of Spin Boldak, which the rebels were arrested last month along the border with Pakistan.
Diplomatic commotion emerged after the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said the rebels had enjoyed the murder of revenge in the Boldak round.
“Taliban chased and identified past and present government officials and killed these people who did not have combat roles in the conflict,” said the group, adding at least 40 people had been killed by the Taliban.
“This murder can form war crimes,” Washington Embassy and London in separate tweets.
Taliban leadership must be responsible, they said, added: “If you can’t control your fighters now, you don’t have a business in governance later.” US Top Diplomat Antony Blinken also slams militant leaders, saying the report “is very disturbing and totally unacceptable.” A Afghanistan without a democratic government, inclusive will be “the Pariah Country,” he said, adding that the desired international recognition of the group would not be possible if “trying to bring the country by forcing and doing a kind of cruelty that has been reported..” Department spokesman spokesman Ned’s land country said the Taliban attack showed “a little attention to human life.” “If Taliban leadership really supports negotiating solutions for this conflict, as they say they do …
they must stop this terrible attack,” he said.
The battle temporarily continued in Lashkar Gah last night when Afghan troops beat the attack of fresh Taliban.
The Hawa Malalai resident warned a growing crisis in the southern city: “There is a battle, power outages, sick people in hospitals, telecommunications networks down.
There are no drugs and closed pharmacies.” The medical charity doctor without a border said the victim increased in Lashkar.
“There have been relentless shots, air strikes, and mortars in a solid population.
Houses are bombed, and many people suffer severe injuries,” said Sarah Leahy, aid group coordinator for Helmand, in a statement.
Helmand for years is the center of the US and British military campaign in Afghanistan.
Field Poppy Province provides opium for international heroin trading, a profitable source of cash for the Taliban.
The loss of Lashkar will be a large strategic and psychological blow for the government, which has promised to defend the city by all means after losing most rural countryside to the Taliban during the summer.
The fight also surged in several Kandahar provincial districts, former rebel fortresses, and on the outskirts of the capital.
In the West, hundreds of commanders also maintained Herat after days of fierce battle.
“If Afghan cities fall …
the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan will be remembered as one of the most famous strategic mistakes in American foreign policy,” Australia’s Afghanistan Australian experts Nishank Motiwani told AFP.